Christina & Hunter

It’s not easy dating as professionals in the millennial world. It’s quite an undertaking to meet, date, engage, connect and love someone who you want to spend the rest of your life with.

How I Built This is an amazing podcast that inspires me. The host of the show Guy Raz asks every entrepreneur at the end of each interview if they think their success is a product of luck, or the result of hard work. To me, love is like an entrepreneurial journey we each take, a journey of loving ourselves, our partners, our work and passion. I find that questions are the best ways to open our minds to focus on the most important things in our lives.

First impressions are so powerful. It is the initial lens which shifts our perspectives and imprint into our minds. I will let Hunter tell his side of the story, of how our first date went.

“I knew she was the one when she let me use a Groupon for our first date. She isn’t a big drinker, so I needed to come up with something fun to do to get to know each other without drinking. It was a bit of a stretch to go go-kart, but she was down! And yes, there was a Groupon to go with it! I offered to drive her to our first date because it was a little far, and when she said yes, I had to quickly make my car presentable. On the ride there, I handed her my phone, and she started playing the recommended songs from my Spotify playlists. For whatever reason, Spotify picked some seriously weird songs, so I started sweating

Their Love Story:

Hunter and I took the Meyers Briggs test, and found out how we are polar opposites – ENFJ and ISTP, which apparently makes a couple very compatible. We build our relationship through honest communication, and we are open to talking about all areas of our lives. We find ourselves open and vulnerable in talking about our physical, mental and spiritual health. Although there are disagreements and challenges in discussing and sharing our points of views, we have found our moral principles to be in alignment, which allows us to grow stronger together.

When we asked ourselves “is our love the product of luck, or the result of hard work?” we found it to be a combination. We are very lucky to have connected, we live in the 4th largest city in America! Bumble, the dating app, definitely helped. As for the “hard work” part we find everything worth having in life takes grit. We embrace the self-love to partner-love. We focus on our health to build the personal strength in order to support and love each other. What we have found is that we show each other we love one another in different ways.

One thing I love about Hunter is that he always has his priorities in line, no matter how stressed or busy he is he always makes time for us. It means so much because you can never make someone care about you and I express my love in acts of service by writing him handmade cards monthly and making him a latte in the morning to start off his day. I know how much he loves coffee and every morning he is reminded of the little things we do for each other as he drinks his coffee:)

Their Personal or Family Wellness Impact Statement:

Winning this wedding would impact our lives in a huge way. It would provide a reason for our families to get together and celebrate; because one of the most important aspects of us to have this wedding is to share the special moments with the people, we love the most, who have loved us unconditionally since birth. I tell people that if they like me for who I am, they can thank my parents, and if they don’t, they can thank my friends. Families mean the world to me. I would love to surprise my parents with this wedding because my mom and dad have gone through a lot together, especially in recent years.

Their Plan to Pay-It-Forward:

Thinking about how we can pay it forward if we won the wedding, I immediately think of our careers where we can both help our local communities. Hunter can provide free ultrasound screenings for common vascular issues in under-served parts of the community, and I can provide financial education for business owners, professionals and students still in school. Being able to advocate for physical and financial health are incredibly important and can truly change a lot of people’s lives for the better. Life is a series of challenges where you never know exactly what will happen next. But with each challenge comes a new skill and knowledge to help us conquer the next challenge we face.

We also want to pay it forward by sharing our love story to inspire people to not give up. We met online and I remember there were times when it was hard to stay on the apps, go on dates, and balance work. And even after being in a relationship with Hunter, people would ask us how we met and at times we stumbled around how to share we met on an app. We want to break the taboo. We feel so lucky to have found each other. It would be a blessing for more people to have comfort that they will find what they are looking for.

I don’t need a horse drawn carriage ride entrance or a yacht like my cousin’s Swedish wedding in 2012. I would just love to bring our family and friends together, and it would mean the world to us to have our family and friends celebrating with us, with my dad walking me down the aisle at our wedding.

Thank you for your time and reading our humble submission and for the generosity of all the local vendors coming together to support the dream wedding!